Folks in Garden City don't want to be known just for trains, traffic and industry. And that's why, Mayor Andy Quinney said Monday night, city officials want to change the zoning along its major thoroughfares from industrial to commercial.

Most of the seats were taken in the City Council's meeting room for a public hearing on plans to reclassify how more than two dozen pieces of property along Ga. 21, U.S. 80, U.S. 17 and Chatham Parkway can be used.

Attorneys Phillip McCorkle and Harold Yellin were also there, representing between them six clients - companies that want to keep their land zoned just the way it is.

Both McCorkle and Yellin signaled they were ready to litigate the matter, if necessary, with each carefully raising a formal constitutional claim that rezoning the parcels would constitute a "taking (of property) without compensation."

McCorkle cited heritage, pointing out that LKQ, one of his clients, sells used auto parts in the same building on U.S. 80 where Grainger Auto Parts opened about 35 years ago.

Both attorneys noted other similar examples. And McCorkle offered up a history lesson on Chatham County's zoning ordinances, noting that zoning around Garden City has heavily emphasized industrial uses since the 1960s.

McCorkle cast doubt on whether city officials would even get what they want from reclassifying the parcels, noting that market forces and not zoning guidelines typically drive how land is used. "The properties zoned (industrial) are frankly more attractive, in many cases, than property zoned (commercial)," he said.

Councilwoman Bessie Kicklighter said city officials worry about encroachment from the Georgia Ports Authority - and want to ensure that families continue to see Garden City as a place where they want to live.

"We just don't want the perception to get out of hand that Garden City is industrial," Kicklighter said. "... I believe everybody in here can appreciate the fact that we are trying to preserve our neighborhoods."

Part of the problem, Quinney said, is that Garden City has no room to expand its city limits.

"We're landlocked," Quinney said.

The city is not seeking wholesale change, Quinney said, adding that Kicklighter's zoning and building committee would take up each parcel that the city has identified on a case-by-case basis.

"It's gotten out there that we're changing everything in a blanket kind of way, and that is not correct," he said.

What they're proposing

Officials in Garden City are taking a hard look at more than two dozen pieces of property along the city's main roads. Here is a complete listing of addresses and property owners: